The ‘Shell Game’: How Chemical Companies Avoid Paying for Pollution


The processes that created Chemours and reinvented DuPont laid the groundwork for a blame-shifting exercise that made it harder for regulators and others to hold them accountable for decades of pollution in North Carolina and elsewhere.

state attorneys general Ohio, New Jersey, New Hampshire, vermont and new York each sued the companies for releasing toxic chemicals into the air, water and soil and concocting a byproduct to protect DuPont from liability. Dutch prosecutors began criminal proceedings Chemours for PFOA use at a factory in Dordrecht from 2008 to 2012 before Chemours was created.

Yet in court, in the media, and in public, DuPont and Chemours used the spin-off to get away from problems.

In an Ohio court case, where the state filed a lawsuit over pollution from the Washington Works factory on the West Virginia border, Chemours claimed the contamination occurred “before Chemours showed up.” Inside filing of securities This summer, Chemours stated that it “has never used and has never used” PFOA. Still, Chemours continues to manufacture other versions of PFAS, including GenX.

DuPont has taken a similar stance. Since Chemours was independent and took charge of Washington Works, DuPont claimed it had nothing to do with pollution. In fact, DuPont insisted that it never produced the toxic substances in question, as it was technically a new company.

In 2019, Chemours, in debt, sued DuPont. Chemours claimed the spinoff was designed to save DuPont from decades of pollution. According to the complaint, DuPont executives decided against a $60 million project that would stop Fayetteville Works from dumping chemicals into the Cape Fear River. Instead, DuPont executives made a $2 million change, which they abandoned shortly before announcing the Chemours spin-off.

The lawsuit states, “DuPont, why bother spending money to fix the problem when it could easily be transferred to Chemours, apparently?” Asked.



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